Confessing is the Easy Part
by Serena-Chan
Summary: You open your mouth. Words come out. Then you get stabbed, and almost die. What could be worse? The post confession aftermath... of facing your crush.
1. Sleeping Bruisey

"Easy does it…Easy… That's it."

The sleepy chunin gave her cousin a sidelong glance. Amused at his words of encouragement per every step they were taking, she was far too tired to express the emotion. Her body like her head throbbed with an intensity she'd yet to know as chunin. Truthfully, the last time she experienced pain to this degree, it came from the very man who now supported her weight through the dusty streets of what remained of Konoha.

"Hinata-sama."

His voice broke her from her daze. The pain, Pain, and sheer exhaustion left the girl less than fully present.

"Hai?" little more than sigh escaped her lips.

"If you'd let me carry you, you could rest."

It was the third time he had offered in the five minutes, and third time she shook her head no as they headed away from the current celebration for Konoha's hero, Uzumaki Naruto.

"Hinata-sama?"

The thought of Naruto, flying mid air, the sick crack of her bones against the ground, the sharp rod piercing her flesh, the Kyubi before her,

"Hinata-sama?!"

was enough to make her swoon.  
_'…Because I love you…'_ was enough to make the girl pass out in her cousin's embrace. Before her body could smack the ground once more she was floating in his warm embrace.

Bridal seemed liked the wrong term, but Neji couldn't help but squint his eyes in annoyance as he hoisted her into his arms. It wasn't her mere 100 pounds that was bothering him. Sadness, frustration, anger, and something he dared not acknowledge forced him to clench his teeth as he carried Hinata towards the damaged, but shockingly still standing Hyuuga Compound.

Tears _nearly_ broke free as he examined the bruising that was starting to color her pale skin sallow shades of yellows, blues, and purples. Her eyes were rimmed with an intense red that would undoubtedly be purple tomorrow. He had a good idea as to what had drove her to dance with a devil ten times her strength, but the very thought of the events made his stomach churn, and his arms grip her tiny frame a little tighter.

"Ugn". A choked sigh escaped his lips.

This crush… this _obsession, _with Naruto... he really thought this was something she'd grow out of. But 3 years of absence and a near death experience later, nothing had changed. If anything, things had intensified. For all her silliness, he really thought Hinata was smarter than this.

"Ah! Neji?! Hinata? Hinata?! Wait!"

A huffing, raspy, gruff voice caused the Hyuuga to brace himself. If it weren't for the girl in his arms he would have turned around, 64 palms a blaze, and smacked Konoha's hero straight to the ground. Instead his body went stiff as he increased his pace.

"Neji!" Neji quickly shook the boys hand from his shoulder turning sharply to face him.

Taken aback by the rage in his eyes, especially after the sea of hugs, kisses, ass pats, and high fives he escaped to catch up to the duo, Naruto took a step back.

"Shouldn't you be celebrating?!" Neji's rage and annoyance fell on deaf ears as the blonde's eyes drifted down to the bruised and crumpled girl in his arms. Following Naruto's gaze, Neji's rage seemed to flare up all over again. Opening his mouth to let out a torrent of swears even Sai wouldn't chuckle at, a slight sob jostled his emotions.

"You're…crying?" Neji's comment didn't even register.

"She's really okay? Right?" Naruto made no attempt to hide the emotion in his voice as he choked his words out.

The elder boy narrowed his eyes to a softer expression before answering with a firm nod. "Thanks to Sakura… yes."

Neji observed Naruto for a reaction to that certain name but found none. Just wet blue eyes, wide and focused on the girl in his arms. It just annoyed him more. He found himself wanting to hold Hinata closer, as if to some how shield her from Naruto's gaze. As if reading his mind, Naruto leaned in a closer. The sunset bleached his hand red as he reached to lift her bangs from her face, but Neji quickly resumed walking to block the contact.

"There are many worse off." _'What's gotten into me…?'_

He didn't turn back to observe the boy which is why his anger peaked when he felt Naruto's chakra in pace with his own.

He knew he was out of line. He knew he should be on his hands and knees thanking the man who had once upon a time saved him from darkness, and now truly moved heaven and earth to protect the village, himself, and Hinata… but all he felt was rage.  
Neji knew Naruto. He knew him quite well. Hell, he respected him more than most other nin in the village, so of course, he was more than aware Naruto would never do anything to hurt Hinata, much less put her in danger… but with every glance down his anger grew a little more.

"Naruto?" Smooth and even, his voice cracked the silence between them. "Exactly what happened out there today?"

For the second time since he approached, Naruto's eyes went wide as they met Neji's. His mouth drifted opened as if to say something, then promptly closed.

Neji wasn't sure if it was blood red sunset or the day's fatigue but the blonde's face turned an unflattering color beneath his gaze. Perhaps it was exhaustion.

"Hinata said…Well… She just jumped in, and then Pain, he," Naruto's arm motions and gestures told a story Neji could not piece together. "I told her, 'leave'… and she…. Neji?"

Blue eyes met white again.

Neji squinted trying to follow the story Naruto was stuttering through,

"has Hinata ever… Well, she said she…" Naruto let out a frustrated sigh rubbing his hair. "It's all froggy in my head!"

"Froggy?"

"tsk! Ahh! Foggy!"

Neji watched him silently as the three figures moved through the eerie damaged and darkening streets.

"I need Hinata to maybe…fill in… some of the blanks… for me"

Neji blinked glancing down at Hinata fast asleep in arms. Despite Sakura's expert medical hand, he suspected she would be sleeping for quite some time and speaking of needing rest, _'froggy in his head?'_

"Perhaps you should head home and rest." Neji suggested hoping Naruto would agree.

The blonde shook his head.

Neji peered from the corner of eye watching as Naruto peered at the sleeping Hinata from the corner of his own.

"Then what about the celebration? Everyone must be looking for you…"

"Bunshin" he deadpanned his eyes never moving from the sleeping heiress.

Neji huffed his gaze shifting forward.

The red of the sun had shifted to twilight. As the moonlit up, it cast eerie shadows across the damaged and cluttered landscape. The two carried on in silence until they reached the large broken doors of the compound.

Remembering himself, Neji softened his tone and gaze and turned to stand before Naruto, face to face. The younger male stood like he was being scolded during his academy days, with his hands firmly shoved in his pockets, head lowered, and yet his gaze never left the limp Hyuga resting in Neji's arms.

"Naruto. Thank you, for everything you did today... saving the village and all…"

The blonde only shook his head.

"Everyone keeps saying that, but I was reckless and honestly if-"

_**Ack! Ack!,**_ The sleeping Hyuga sputtered a strange mix of liquids onto the white of Neji's shirt.

"Hinata-Sama?!""Hinata?!" The boys chimed in unison.

Hinata only curled tighter into Neji's abdomen, lost in exhaustion.

"Naruto. Head home. Rest"

For the third time, Naruto's eyes met Neji's. It didn't take a sensory type to detect something strange was brewing in the air. Bowing once more. Neji headed toward the house eager to place his cousin in bed.

"Neji…"

The Hyuga stopped in his tracks, glancing back over his shoulder.

"Could you… When Hinata wakes up… can you tell her, I need to talk to her…"

The crickets chirped an awkward reply.

" A lot of weird things happened out there...""with the Kyuubi! And all." he quickly added. "I think she'll remember… better than I can." Naruto's eyes found the ground, as his hand found the back of head.

White-eyes narrowed a bit. Neji knew a thing or two about body language. Hand on the head? Eyes to the ground? Naruto knew more than he was letting on, and was certainly sitting on some secrets. Neji was a genius, but it didn't take one to piece this puzzle together.

"I will…relay this message…."

Naruto shook his head affirmatively, and turned to head back towards his own apart- well, what was maybe left of his own apartment.

"Naruto."

Now it was the fox nin's turn to stop in his tracks. Naruto turned to glance back at Neji, his pale skin a glow in the moonlight, and the crumpled girl in his arms. There was something sharp in Neji's voice, something even more serious than the always-serious nin was.

Neji had finally realized what had been bothering him.

"I'm not one to pry, but I must say this," Neji moved back down the path leading into the compound, closing the space between them "Since it's gone this far, don't play with Hinata-sama."

"Huh?" Naruto's mind began to race as his eyebrows furrowed. "Play with? I know she's pretty banged up. I don't wanna train or anything like that. I just want to-"

"You know what I'm talking about."

Questioning blue eyes met clear white orbs.

"My respect and admiration for you has kept me quiet til this point, but since it's come to this…I can't- No. I _won't _stand quiet anymore."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, honestly, unsure of what was going on here. His hand found the back of his head . This day. This day had been something else. As if feeding off the confusion in his head, the crickets seemed to intensify their melody.

"I will relay your message, and send for you the moment Hinata-sama is conscious, and of sound mind."

"Thank you-" Why couldn't he just say that in the first place? Naruto gazed once more at Hinata, limp and seemingly lifeless.

"AND, at that time, you will set the record straight."

"Record straight?" His eyes found Neji's once more. "I don't-"

"You understand. "

_'Because, I love you'_ Like an quiet evening's wind chime, her words danced in his head. Neji really did have sight beyond sight. Naruto's gaze found the bruised and bandaged Hyuuga once more as his stomach and mind began dancing in confusing.

"Neji, I really don't …"

"You do."

Naruto quickly shifted his eyes upward to Neji's. They're nightshine, like his tone, brandished a threatening edge. Many would have backed down from his chakra charged glare, but brimming with the frustrations of a series emotionally devastating revelations, and now coming across another, the genin's tone took on an edge of its own,

" I had no idea! Hinata was, Hinata is my friend so of course we all…Do you know what that meant to me? Until today, nobody ever… NOBODY... And why didn't she ever say anything?"

Unable to cross his arms, Neji lowered his head menacingly.

"And you!? If you know, knew, why as my friend, AND Hinata's cousin, why didn't you ever-"

"YOU DIDN'T WANT, to know." The crickets' concerto ended as an awkward blanket of silence enveloped the two.

Naruto's neck coiled backward with in an insulted gesture. Neji stepped closer. Still carrying the sleeping Hinata in his arms, he bounced her upwards to redistribute her weight.

"You knew. You always knew. It was just easier for you not to know. "

"Neji-"

"Neji?"

A foreign voice caught the elder boys attention. Ko limped forward from the shadows of the street behind Naruto, catching Neji's eyes. Naruto's didn't falter as they bore with anger into Neji.

"Naruto? Naruto-sama?!" Ko quickly limped against his make shift walking stick to Naruto's side offering the boy several bows and a smile.

"Everyone was wondering where you disappeared to!" He lowered his head trying to catch Naruto's gaze. " We all thought you escaped back home to sleep! A bunch of villagers were headed to your place to drag you…"

Ko's eyes followed Naruto's gaze back to Neji's and, "Hinata Sama!"

At once Ko was beside Neji, his walking stick fall to the ground. "I'll get her inside."

Neji's eyes moved back to Naruto's as he shifted Hinata's weight gently into the arms of the already injured Ko, who quickly disappeared inside.

Meeting Naruto gaze. a flinch of something sparked in Neji causing his face to soften. Naruto shook his head in disbelief and turned sharply to leave.

"Naruto!"

Head lowered in confusion and feet still on the move, he didn't have the heart or patience to deal with Neji anymore. Not today. No more today.

"If the villagers are waiting at your apartment, where will you sleep? "

Damn it … he didn't think of that one. The crickets resumed their melody in the night air. Today was not Naruto's day.

"Come inside. You can rest here. You and Hinata-sama can sort this all out in the-"

"I… Sakura's apartment is still standing. I'll crash on her floor, til tomorrow."

_'Sakura, huh'_. Neji narrowed his eye for the umpteenth time as Naruto made his way down the path.

"Naruto!"

"What!" His voice clearly annoyed, confused, and angry cut through the orchestra of crickets, silencing them once more.

Neji moved further down the path, closer to the retreating nin.

"Hinata-sama, isn't glass. If you are honest with her, she will not break."

A curt glance over the shoulder. "I know that. " Naruto resumed his steps quickening his pace from the compound.

"Naruto." The elder jogged down the path to stand before him.

Before Naruto could object anymore he was met with a deep bow. "You truly are Konoha's hero. Thank you."

No thanks, or acknowledgement was left in the Jinchuuriki. He only brushed past Neji in annoyance, and with a toss of brown hair and a saunter of arrogance, Neji too disappeared through the broken gate of the Hyuuga compound, into the darkness.

How could one person have his dreams realized, acknowledged by the village, his friends and family? safe, the love of a father, and yet feel this miserable. This whole day had really left him pissed and confused.

Wandering through the cluttered debris, the mess around him matched his inner turmoil.

With the village in shambles and most residence either staying with family on the outskirts or staying in the camps at the center of the village crater, the night seemed even darker and more lonely than usual.

Stumbling upon an empty park bench half wretched from the ground, and circled by debris, Naruto sat burrowing his head in his hands. Hinata's confession had smacked him like a runway Choji at an all you can eat buffet.

He knew?

He always knew?

What? How? _'Because I love you_. '

Un welcomed voices danced in his head.

_"She's always watching you"_ Sakura's smiling face at the Chunin Exam.

_"You like to grow flowers…and Hinata, likes to press them…Go... figure..."_ Ino, with one hand beneath her chin at the flower shop.

_"Leave Sakura-San to me! You have another whose hot blooded spring is boiling for you!"_ Lee, during Valentine's Day training.

_"Ah but you're one of the lucky ones. Hinata's much too quiet to be troublesome._"  
_"Mm hmm! If she can flambé, she can stay!"_ boy talk in the bathhouse.

_"She always faints when you're around!"_ You too, Kiba?

_"Funny! With perfect vision you're the one target she always can't hit"_ even Tenten?

_"The Love Bug doesn't just chase one particular blossom. It respects the flower that opens before it_." Shino, you bastard.

_"Hinata? That's a pretty name. If you don't mind, I'll call you Vienna. Hmm? Well, you seem to like mini sausages is all!_

"SAAAIII!" Whatever birds had returned to the area scattered into the night. What the hell was going on! Did everyone know about this "love" except for him?

**You knew…**

_"In my eyes…You're a proud failure!"_

**You always knew..**

_"Let's do our best…"_

**"It was just easier"**

"_I wanted to walk beside you"_

**"For you"**

_"You can look at my test"_

**"Not to know"**

Staring up at the stars, his gaze glided to his constant source of comfort. Untouched by Pain's hands, Nagato's wrath, the five Hokages stared back down at him... and then there was dad.

Perhaps it was emotional stress, sheer exhaustion, or a healthy combination of both but the hero of Konoha found himself unconscious on a broken park bench below the stars.

An unfitting bed for Konoha's Hero.

Just A quick note! This story is short, and it's more than half way written already! I just thought now was a good time to post the first chapter. I have a nasty track record of starting things and not finishing them, so I wanted to give my useless guarantee that this will be finished! It takes place between the confession and the Naruto leaving to the island turtle, so that leaves very little to be covered!

As proof! I give you the chapter rundown, although maybe it spoils some things… maybe? Maybe not. ^_~

1) Sleeping Bruisey

2) Heart to Heart! Face to Sheet! Face the facts.

3) Trial, Judge, and Jinchuriki

4) Confessing is the easy part

5) Wait for me?

Fin.

Happy Reviewing. Next Chapter is written! I'll post it soon!


	2. Heart2Heart, Face2Sheet Face the Facts!

Warm.  
It was so warm.  
Comfortable.  
Like floating in stream of complete euphoria.

"He said he'd wait for you outside."

_'Huh?'_

"Whatever. He can't come in until I finish up anyway."

_'Come where?'_

"I get he's mad at you but, he seemed a little miffed with me too... I guess saving the world makes you grumpy…"

Without warning the waves of euphoria stopped.

"Tsk. I didn't mean to make him upset. I'm not saying my delivery was correct, but I wasn't completely out of line."

_'What?'_

A slight chuckle… "Please don't tell me that's how you apologized? "

_Hinata blinked trying to clear her vision in the dimly lit? Well lit? room._

"Or did you just kind of act like nothing happened…"

silence.

The girl flinched as her body was wrenched up slightly from the floor, a restricting pressure choking her chest, growing tighter and tighter by the minute.

"I was on a team with him and Sasu…"

The tightening around her chest became so aggressive, that despite the stinging sensation from the light beaming in, her eyes flew opened.

"I know how boys, men? No. Boys…operate."

She could make out the silhouette of Neji's against the all too bright sunlight trickling in through the window. The intensity forced her eyes shut once more. She was unsure as to what they were babbling about, but their chatter brought a strange sense of comfort to the girl.

"Well what did you fight about anyway? I can't imagine anything that serious happened between sundown and- "

"Hinata-sama"

_'Me?'_

"Oh…?"

Hinata opened her right eye blinking a few times to clear her vision.  
_  
_

"Well, what happened out there?"

_'Sakura San?'_

"I couldn't tell you, but that's besides the point. Whatever happened, happened. I'm more concerned with hasn't happened in all these years."

_What hasn't happened?'_

A sudden blast of chilly air reached her legs forcing her left eye to peer opened as well. The breeze was quickly replaced by the warmth of healing chakra. She took in the sight of Sakura's hands hovered gently above her thighs, a somber expression on the girls face, pink brows arched in irritation.

Hinata's eyes flitted back to Neji, only to take in his back as he stared out her bedroom windows, conveniently blocking the sun from assaulting her face.

"I get it. But, surely you don't blame just Naruto for that?"

_'Naruto-Kun!?'_

"Hinata has a mouth that can talk, and hands that can write letters, and- "

"I'm not saying Hinata-sama is blameless, but her intentions have been fairly-"

"Hinata!" Sakura chirped suddenly, catching the movement of her eyes as they studied Neji's brooding shadow.

Neji quickly turned around locking eyes with his cousin. "Hinata Sama!"

Dropping down to embrace her, her bound but exposed chest caused him to quickly stand and turn away once more. Sakura paid no heed, gently embracing her reclined form.

"Sakura-San." Dried blood, and the residue of sleep coating her vocal cords left her voice horse and softer than usual.

"Didn't think you'd wake up so soon!"

Hinata moved to lift her arms and return the embrace, but a throbbing pain caused her to yelp.

"Sorry !" Sakura quickly jumped back inspecting the Hyuga to make sure she didn't disrupt the wounds or bruising she'd just finished healing. Her face soured when they rested on a very prominent portion of her anatomy.

"Uh! NoNoNo! Not you Sa-sakura-" Much to quickly, Hinata moved to slide up from the stiff tatami mat, only to gasp out in pain

"Hinata-sama!" Neji turned once more but quickly turned around again, an uncomfortable blush painting his cheeks.

"I'm okay. I'm just really sore."

Sakura face softened as she leaned over gently wriggling her arms under Hinata's body .

"Well that's expected!" the medical nin slowly began to work the girl upward into a sitting position. "Pain must have really wanted you to suffer. Your left lung was punctured so you wouldn't have bled out. It would have slowly filled up with blood, until you started drowning in it. It's a really painful way to…" Detecting this may not be the best conversation to have with the bandaged and bruised girl Sakura averted her eyes to the ceiling and then to the back of Hinata's head, her chin now resting against Sakura's shoulder.

"Sakura…thank you. Thank you so much."

A warm stoke of her hair was her reply as she leaned heavily into her fellow kunoichi's shoulder for support; emotional and physical.

"Neji, we need something to support her back"

"Hai. "

The Jonin glanced about the room before settling on an old, but pristine wooden desk.

Following his gaze, sakura couldn't help but grimace.

"For one of the richest families in Konoha, you guys sure keep it…" green eyes searched the room trying to think of the right word, "traditional."

"Hiashi-Sama" "Otousan." The two sighed in unison.

Hinata's room wasn't really girly like her's or Ino's. Hell, even Tenten, weapon loving tomboy that she was, had a more feminine room than this. The most girly thing she laid eyes on was the fuzzy sea foam comforter, with a large silken red flame, that now rested over Hinata's legs.

Polished heavy wood formed every piece of furniture in her vision. Heavy wooden dresser, heavy wooden vanity, heavy wooden armoire, heavy wooden desk that Neji was struggling to move , not from its weight but undoubtedly from years of not being moved at all.

Sakura's eyes moved to the massive sets of bay windows, wooden and barred, occupying opposing sides of the room, giving the quarters a strange octagonal shape. A blank wall, with odd scribblings, occupied the north wall while the room's entrance occupied the south.

Nodding in understanding she watched as Neji gave up on the desk, shifting his gaze to the solid wooden stool that operated as Hinata's vanity chair.

"Eight Trigrams."

"Come again?" Neji questioined trotting the stool over, and setting it at the head of Hinata's tatami mattress.

"The windows? The door?" Sakura inquired, leaning Hinata gently against it.

"Hiashi-sama" "Otousan-uNnn" Hinata grunted shifting her weight from Sakura's shoulder to rest against the stool.

Sakura nodded once pursing her lips. Maybe Kiba was right when he told her Hinata's dad was a nut job.

Hinata's whimper attracted Neji's attention once more.

" Sakura, please…" he nodded his head towards Hinata's direction.

Arriving a bit before dawn, always one to follow up with her patients, Sakura had stripped the girl to treat her bruising from yesterday, leaving her solely in a pair of old training shorts and a series of tightly bound bandages that circled her chest, and looped about one of her shoulders to remain secure, leaving her mid section, arms and legs bare and exposed.

"Oh come off it, Neji. She's your sist…er, cousin…family!" Annoyed but complying, Sakura pulled the seafoam blanket up, resting it over Hinata's shoulders and tucking it behind her neck to ensure it stayed.

"Still… I respect Hinata-Sama's modestey."

The girls shared a glance of humorous understanding as Sakura rolled her eyes. "She's covered!"The medical nin threw her hands up in humorous frustration before slamming them on the tatami mat's that covered the floor. Neji took notice as she pushed her palms down harshly a few more times against the floor.

"What?"

"These mats…this won't be good for her spine since it's bruised."

Neji nodded. "Ko!"

The hyuga was instantly in the room bowing a greeting, and shocking the medical nin. Sakura had seen a lot of sick people, but she'd never seen one move that fast with a cane.

"Ask Hoheto-San to bring extra mats up, per Sakura-San's order."

A slight bow and a smile to Hinata, then Sakura. "Right away, Neji. HOHETO!" Ko masculine scream as he limped from the room caused the girls and even Neji to scour.

The medical nin raised an eyebrow. Clearly Neji was running this operation in Hiashi absence.

"Let me take a look at that leg when he gets back in here."

Neji simply nodded in approval as he moved from the window. Grabbing a seating pillow and a brush from her vanity, he settled down beside Hinata and promptly went to work untangling the mass of silky knots at the ends of her hair.

Sakura smiled half heartedly. Moments like this took her mind off the other things weighing it, like Sasuke, Akatsuki, and when Tsunade-sensei would wake up.

_'Tsunade-Sama!'_

With a start she began crawling around the floor, collecting the various supplies she'd brought with her.

"Sakura…" Hinata's voice seemed to return from the clutches of grogginess. "Thank you… for coming here…"

"Yes. Thank you." Neji bowed deeply, his head greeting the floor a little harder than he expected. Sakura was right about those damn mats… _'Hiashi-sama…_'

Sakura only waved her hand in dismissal as she continued to pack the sleek tan pouch that held her medical supplies.

"Yesterday left me out of chakra. I couldn't send you home to suffer. It's bad enough you had to make it through the night like that."

Hinata blinked slowly adjusting to the morning light, since Neji had moved from his post by the window.

Sakura glanced between her bag and the cousins, as she zipped the receptacle shut.

"Cracked skull ,one leg broken in two places, the other fractured, 3 cracked ribs, a bruised spine, punctured lung, even in sensei's hands you'd be sore for a while!"

Neji's standard, stoic appearance turned mortified, while Hinata only lowered her head in shame.  
Sakura leaned over giving her a friendly pat on the shoulder, before standing to leave.

"Hey! Smile! You're alive after all…AND," a memory suddenly hit the girl, "off duty for the next month."

Hinata met her gaze confused. With the village in shambles there was no way.

"By decree of the Hokage's assitant." She raised her right hand as if to swear truth. "One week of bed rest then you start rehabilitation training. I had that scroll somewhere..."her voice trailed off as she unzipped her pouch once more and began rummaging through it.

"Sa- Sakura-San…"

"Hm?" Pink eyebrows raised quizzically, her focus still on finding Shizune's scroll.

"Neji-Nissan…"

"Hinata-sama?" He leaned forward from beside her for a better view of her face.

"What were you two talking about earlier…"

White eyes met green before sprinting in opposite directions.

"Somebody's upset, and and, and Neji was fighting with…." her voice took on a curious but knowing tone, "someone…?"

Sakura stood frozen, fist in bag, staring at the elder Hyuga,_ '…go on, Neji'_

A huff of air escaped his lips. As his arms crossed, eyes closed, and head turned sideways in a wave of brown hair and defiance.

" Tsk." Sakura really had other things to do.

"…WELL, from what I got out of both of them, Neji and Naruto are arguing over why you got hurt, instead of focusing on the fact that you, and all of the villagers so far are safe and accounted for, while other people have lost their homes , shops... livelihood. "

Inner and outer Sakura had become a unified front long ago, but there were definitely times when one personality shown brighter than the other. Despite her rapidly souring mood, she couldn't help but smirk as Hinata's lips went pouty and her eyes closed briefly before focusing on Neji.

"I'm not fighting with him, and we weren't arguing over how you got hurt."

Sakura had never heard the elder on the defensive. Neji was always proud, stoic, and cordial. Some people referred to the Hyuga clan as a royal family of Konoha, and not with the kindly connotation you'd think...

"I apologized."

This was the first time Sakura understood why. She chuckled at their, "conversation" as she moved to the entrance of Hinata's room. Hopping about as she worked her feet into her bootdals, as Naruto called watched as Hinata stared at Neji, posing not one question, and yet the elder continued to volunteer answers.

"I was bringing you home and he invited himself on the walk insisting he needed to talk to you."

Instantly Hinata's attitude seemed to dissipate.

"I agreed, considering this nonsensical crush has-"

"He asked to speak with Hinata?" Sakura interrupted shifting her focus form the drama she was enjoying to the actual content of Neji's words.

"Yes- and I suggested-"

"Oh…" Sakura blinked a few times. _Well, he didn't tell her that part of the story_…"So _that's_ why he's waiting outside."

If Sakura had to run down the list of Hinata's injuries again, she could have added whiplash with the speed the Hyuga's head twisted to face her.

"He was going to go with me to see Tsunade-sama but insisted he'd tag along when I said I had to stop here first. I said I'd help Ko, anyway. I'll send him in on my way out. "

"Wh- What? Wa Wait!" Hinata looked between Sakura and Neji as frantically as her body allowed in its current condition to motion.

"Wait-" Neji cleared his throat standing to chase after her. Hinata brush thudded dully on the tatami mats he threw it down before absent mindedly slamming the shoji door shut in his pursuit of Sakura.

"What Neji? Thought it was strange he'd come just to patch things up with you..." Hinata heard Sakura's voice picking up annoyance as it faded down the hallway. "You said you wanted them to...

"No! Don't send him!" Hinata cried out hoping her voice would catch them but received only the faint sound of bickering in the distance.

"Sakura-San?"…" Neji-Nissan!"

Silence.

Her heart began to pound in panic.

_'NononononoNOno'_

Looking around the room, the off cast brush reminded her of how awful she must have appeared at the moment. Sakura may have tended to her bruises, but if her arms were any indication of what her face still looked like, it surely still hosted some nasty discoloration. Placing her arms on the stool behind her, she made an attempt to push her self up, before recoiling back to the floor.

"AUGGGH" She relinquished a painful whine.

Her own panic had kept her from hearing the commotion that returned back outside her door. Her heart nearly broke from her chest as the door flew open and Sakura peeked in.

"Be Careful."

"Sa- Sakura!? Wait-" And the door slid shut again.

She froze listening intensely to the frantic chattering of three voices.

"I already planned to before you decided to butt in!" Her heart stopped. One all to familar voice was much closer than the others, as familiar silhouette shone through the paper

"I know. I KNOW, Neji. Sa-ku-ra-Chan, I'll catch up you in a bit."

Fight or Flight!  
Hinata's neck reeled in contradicting direction desperately searching for an exit? An exit? To where?

Lavender eyes flitted around the room settling once again on her, 'hair brush?!' Her hair, while naturally straight as a pin, was still half frazzeled and untamed. An out stretched hand did nothing to bring the utensil closer.

"Let's just leave them to -" Sakura's muffled voice was still discernible. A much closer than welcomed yawn just outside her door kept her from hearing the rest.

Yawn? Yawn! 'Her breath!' Hinata certainly didn't remember brushing her teeth last night. Her hands instantly clasped over her mouth. Breathing into her hand she tried to detect any offending smell that was lying in wait, and was met the noxious odor of dried blood. '_Damn it!_' She wasn't one to curse but panic was truly starting to set in. Grabbing her comforter which had long since tumbled from around her neck, she began scrubbing the fabric against her teeth.

_**Knock. Knock**_

"D-D-Don't COME IN!" Unfortunately the second half of her sentence came out the louder than the first.

All sound seemed to dissipate from the room save the click of the door as it met the end of it's sliding track.

Black and orange jacket.

Orange matching pants.

Bare…manly feet.

"Oi Hinata!"

It felt like slow motion as the door slid opened and the orange jump suit glided in, suave and smooth as if the past 24 hours had never happened.

Since he woke in the rain around 3 in the morning, and stumbled to the Haruno's now rickety apartment building for a lecture and a nap, Naruto had been planning how to tackle this moment.  
He expected his heart to race.  
For whatever reason, he expected her to be as angry with him as Neji was yesterday.

'_It's only awkward if you make it awkward"_ he chanted in his head over and over again.

His entrance went off without a hitch…but nothing prepared him for what came next.

For three protracted seconds, their eyes locked. Mortified and quivering, Hinata lips parted as a wordless protest escaped.

Naruto's teeth burrowed into his bottom lip as his eyes shifted left, and his heart grew louder pounding in his chest.

_**Swoooossshh**_

In a flash of sea foam and red, the Hyuga disappeared completely beneath the downy soft of her blanket.

"Go-Good Morning."

Nothing. That was all the boy could say. Nothing.  
Speechless and stunned Naruto's hand found his chest in hopes of calming of it. A blink followed another as he peered closer at the fuzzy lump that now replaced Hinata.

Did she really just…

"Hin…Hinata?"

"HAI-!" Her voice came out nervous, loud, and squeaky cutting him off.

"Are you…" Naruto's eyes formed slits as he looked around the room for some kind of explanation as to what was going on.

The early morning sun beaming in through one solitary window put the lump of down, silk, cotton and Hyuga literally in the spotlight, while the rest of her room seem bathed in shadows.

Stepping further into the room Naruto did a `180 back towards the door, and then another towards the lump, that was Hinata. His thumb pointed behind him not knowing quite what to do.

Following his movements with her over acting imagination, "… Close it- UH! P-Please close it. "

"Leave it op-OW" A voice from the hallway drifted in before the door slammed shut from the outside.

Hinata made a mental note to buy Sakura something truly magnificent. She was quite the lifesaver today.

With the entrance now shut, Naruto found himself quite unsettled in the girls chambers. His eyes slowly took in the overbearing wood, and shutter bound windows barring all light from her chamber, save the one window illuminating the flame on the soft lump in the middle of the floor.

He shuttered as the image of a coffin came to mind, then felt that now familiar, but just as jarring, churn of his stomach at the thought of Hinata wrapped up in said coffin. Backing against the doorframe for support, he stared once more at the opened window breathing cool spring air into the room.

Very aware of his chakra, Naruto's Chakra, in. her. ROOM. Her BEDROOM, the girl fiddled mercilessly with her fingers ignoring all kinds of dull throbs, and sharp pains, shooting throughout her exhausted body. Their strange dance seemed even more awkward enveloped in the eerie green casted by the sunlight streaming through the blanket.

_'What was he doing?' _"Uhmmm-" she began in an attempt to end the threatening silence.

"Hinata…?"

He. Nah. Tah. Her fingers increased their pace. '_He nah tah.'_ Her mouth formed the syllables in silence beneath the blanket. There was something so even about the way he spoke her name. A slight wishful sigh escaped her lips.

"HAI!" Realization hit her like a ton of bricks, that blankets blocked out people not sounds.

The intensity of her voice caused Naruto to respond with a yell of his own!

"DO YOU MIND IF I OPEN THE WINDOWS?"

"HAI! G-GO RIGHT AHEAD!"

Why were they screaming at each other? She banged her hands silently against her head a few times.

This is not how this was supposed to happen. Any of it.

From the moment Naruto set off to explore the world with Jiraiya, she resolved herself to confess her feelings to him directly the day he stepped foot back in town. From the moment he stepped foot back in town, everyday she was resetting the countdown 'til the day of her confession.

She listened cautiously visualizing Naruto's movements as he moved from window to window, sliding the obscene two-by-fours from the oversized shutters. Every bit of light he let in brought them closer to the conversation she was not ready to have. If she could…turn back the clock... and omit three little words…_ 'NO!'_ She quickly pushed the thought away. She _always_ knew confessing would be the easy part.

She knew he loved Sakura. EVERYONE knew he loved Sakura, but she just wanted the chance to plead her case.

That's why everything needed to be perfect; from the timing, to the whether, to the season.  
She made sure to not approach him around Valentines Day; too much pressure.  
She didn't want to ask him near his birthday; she might scare him away if she brought the wrong gift.  
After health and sports day, came the stretch of winters holidays, not to mention her own birthday, which brought the whole gift giving debacle into play again.  
No.  
She had planned to approach him, with grace and confidence, ask him to the swing set in front of the academy (after hours of course) , and let him know just how much that intense feeling in her heart had intensified.  
In her mind, she knew what dress she'd wear, the shade of orange she would polish her finger nails, and all her lines. The script she'd recited mentally nearly everyday …

_'Don't answer now. Please take some time to think about it.'_

Now faced with the reality of her situation, all her preparations went right out the -

"Whoa!"

Hinata jumped at the chipper sound of his voice.

Naruto took his time lifting the wooden barge from the last window. Pushing the shutter open, he glanced out over the fields of grass and trees surrounding the room, amazed. With all the windows spread wide, it was almost like they we're sitting in a large gazebo instead of a bedroom.

Did he really need to open every last one?  
Probably not. But the fox nin, too, wanted to by some time before diving in to this… conversation.

"Security is tight around here ne?" He turned chuckling nervously at the mass of covers.

Hinata blinked. With nothing to stare at but her hands, legs, and knees in her self made cocoon, his words seemed a serious question verses the ice breaker it was meant to be.

"Um…" she took a breath, listening as his footsteps neared her. "Well…some Kumo nin…tried to kidnap me along time ago so…"

She trailed off hearing the echos of his footfalls stop . The rustle of clothing revealed he had settled down on the floor to her right, a comfortable distance away.

"…otousan is really cautious."

If she would have come from beneath the blanket, she would have noticed the young man, legs crossed and rigid, nodding in understanding. Instead, the silence left her more anxious.

"This…this room was for the clan heir so… really it's not supposed to be… my room… anymore."

Naruto looked around understanding the intricacies of its setup a little more now, but found himself more confused as he thought about it. It was breathtaking, but such large windows,facing the outskirts of the property ? Odd if you didn't want someone to get kidnapped.

"It's de-designed to capture the sun…" she trailed off. _Quiet Hinata, you're babbling..._

She listened intensely for his response.

His silence was killing her.

Hinata's eyes flitted anxiously underneath her blanket.

She wanted to see him, but if he was here to settle the score about what happened yesterday, it wasn't going to happen with her hair in wavy knots and her breath reeking of blood... the red tint of bruising for eyeshadow.

Detecting no movement, and curious to see him…

Duh. Why didn't she think of it sooner.

"Byku -GAAH!"

Hinata's screamed, instantly grabbing the sides of her head.

"HINATA?!" Loud and fast, on all fours, his hand and foot steps made loud echos, even through the tatami mats he crawled on. "Hinata!?" Rugged fingers penetrated her haven lifting the comforter up.

_**SLAM!**_

"Ahhh!" Another scream escaped the injured girls lips as her hands came down securing the blanket to the floor.

"Hinata?" Concerned and confused Naruto gave the blanket a sharp tug only to find it weakly held in place.

"Umph" He tugged the fuzzy cloth a little harder.

"_Eeep!_" The blanket tugged back.

Naurto lips pouted in annoyance as his eyes turned to slits. "Hinata!"

He was boisterous, a prankster, and as silly as they came, but this was a little out of hand.

Moving on all fours, he crawled to her the left side of the girl before attempting the same maneuver, only to be met with a girlish yelp of surprise as the blanket was pulled away again from the inside.

The sudden movement knocked the wind from her lungs and left the girl eager to catch her breath. She relaxed when she felt the tesion of his touch leave the blanket, but it didn't take years of anticipating attacks to figure out where he was headed next.

Very slowly the boy began crawling soundlessly to where her outstretched legs must have been.

"D-don't!"

Hinata pulled her legs in, ignoring the immense throbs of pain and began to tuck the blanket ends firmly beneath her feet.

He watched as a sea of fuzzy edges were systemattically tucked inward everywhere his eyes trailed.

Down on all fours, he crouched low to ground, circling the girl like a creature on the hunt, hoping to detect , some weakness in her Cacoon. Did she… was her bykugan on or something?

"Are you cheating?"

"Ch-cheating!?"

Perhaps it was his prowling posture, but a sinister something chuckled inside of him.

"Shut up, jerk!"

"J-Jerk?!" A gasp of shock emerged from the fuzzy heap .

"No no no not you, Hinata!" Naruto relinquished his posture, waving his hands as a sign of truce… as if she could see it.

"Nisan?"

"Kyubi!" He blurted out more to himself than to her.

"Kyu… kyubi?" The sight of the beast instantly flashed in her mind as it approached her limp form yesterday. It was almost as though she could feel the heat of its red hot chakra, surrounding those massive bones again. She shuddered in remembrance as her body went hot all over. She quickly wrapped her arms around her legs in an attempt to stop her shaking and pulled them in even closer in fear.

Naruto released a defeated sigh, before settling, legs crossed, before what he correctly assumed was the front of her . He scratched his head observing the greenish blue heap of covers with the bright red flame. He'd spent plenty of days talking to the rocks of the Hokage Monument as he scrubbed it cleaned, perhaps this wouldn't be much different.

_'Yeah right.'_

Never had he ever heard the words, 'I love you' before yesterday, and honestly , he could probably count the conversations he and Hinata had shared on his hands and toes.

"H-Hinata?" '_Here we go' _he thought focused intently on the flame emblem in the sunlight. His words, dripping with uneasy energy, reflected the obvious direction of where this conversation was headed.

"Yes." Oddly enough, her voice came out smooth and confident. Her nervous energy was nothing the shadow of a mere memory of kyubi.

"Thank you…. For stepping in when you did. I gotta say," he chuckled a little rubbing his palms together to calm his anxiety, "I thought you were a goner for sure when you showed up-NOT- not that you're not strong, or anything… but Nagato was really something else. "

"Na-Nagato?"

"Ah. See, Pain wasn't Pain. Pain was Yahiko…well, Yahiko's body was Pain, and Pain was being puppeted by Nagato from inside of this paper tree on top of this mountain and…" his voice seemed to lose it's moment as he focused on the lump of fabric. "I'm not making sense, huh…"

"N-n-no! You are!"_ 'Don't stop talking.'_

"Oh well. None of that matters anyway. I just… well, when Pain…. um… Well, I just wanted to say thank you….for what you did…yesterday."

"Oh." Disappointment was evident in her response. Maybe…he didn't remember, or worse, maybe this was a nice way of saying, _'it ain't happen sista_'.  
A sad smile graced her lips as her chin pressed into knees and her hands clasped around her legs.

"You're welcome-"

"Hinata?" His voice had lost the spirited energy it usually held, mirroring her somber one.

"Hai."

"How much…Well, do you remember all of what happened yesterday."

"Hai..." A strange curiousity piqued both hope and fear in her words.

Naruto's arms stretched out to clutching his ankles as his gaze shifted to the sky beyond her windows.

"Oh."…"Heehee" his chuckle sound more nervous than amused.

A cool breeze floated into the room, along with the chirping of morning birds hunting worms.

"Hinata."

"…Hai."

"So you remember _everything_ that happened…..yesterday."

Silence.

He couldn't help but cock his head in confusion as something began to move around within the blanket.

"Hai!" The answer came out fast and clipped after a long pause.

"Everything."

"Ye- yes. Everything."

"Oh." The word carried more weight than the fox nin intended. He focused his eyes on the birds settling on the large window sills, cocking their heads left and right as if insisting he the spit out whatever it was he needed to ask. "Well…How….. are… you feeling…?"

_Ah. There it was_.  
"I..."  
There were many reason Hinata had chosen Naruto as the object of her adoration. A lot of their class mates would disagree, but she had always considered him one of the most considerate people she knew…when it counted that is. Truly, she didn't know why she got her hopes up so high anyway. She always kind of knew this was how her confession would end.  
"I..."  
The thought of the warm embrace he'd shared the day before with Sakura flashed through her mind. Naruto had his own love, and his own priorities, and his own training, and his own senseis, and Uhicha Sasuke to worry about . She knew that.  
"I..."  
As irrationally disappointed as she was, she was happy to still have his friendship.  
She was happy to still have his concern.  
She let out a long sigh before finally answering his question,

"I know pain."

"Ha…ha...BWAHAHAHAH"

Her head shot up from knees at the boisterous laugh penetrating her cocoon.

"HinaAHAHAA! Hinata! BWHAHAHAHA"

Stunned she blinked a few times. What did she say?

_'Know pain...'_ The sinister voice echoed in her own head. _'Oh right.'_

"You- hahaahah- You're really haha funny, Hinata! Hahahahaha"

Her nervous energy was entirely forgotten and the entire mood seemed to shift.

The light and airy quality of her laugh formed a strange harmony with Naruto's loud and hearty one.

It was foreign...pleasant to his ears. He wasn't aware that his own had stopped .

He'd never heard her laugh before. Giggle behind her hand, sure, but not laugh.  
He once watched Choji line up their water glasses at barbeque, and rim each one with his finger. Hinata's laugh was something like that.

At the sudden stop of his laugh, Hinata took notice of her own, and painstakingly moved her hands to cover her mouth.

Naruto shook his head, "…Know pain.." his laughter shook the room all over again sending several birds on the window frames a-flight.

* * *

At the compound's gate, Neji and Sakura, shared a glance of recognition, at the loud and all too familiar sound.

While Neji seemed unmoved, a devious smile spread across Sakura's face.

"Do me a favor. Let Naruto know I'll be at Tsunade-sama's tent!"

A slow nod was her response.

As Sakura dashed off, her smirk faded back to a scowl with concern for her teacher. She didn't notice as two familiar figures approached bowing slightly at her passing…

"Neji?"

* * *

"Hinata?" With their laughter banishing the uncomfortable air of the room, Naruto's words regained their usual passion."Do you remember um-"

She listened intently her face hot from laughter and the heat of the sun cooking her beneath the blanket.

"Okay, well, yesterday," he squirmed rocking back and forth focused intently on her beneath blanket, "when you said … um well you said … ah-"

"That I, loved you- that I would die protecting you?"

His rocking stopped as she repeated the proclamation. His heart was began to pound all over again, as little butterflies took flight in his stomach. Naruto was glad she'd taken refuge underneath that blanket, because for reasons he could not explain…a foolish grin had spread across his face, from whisker to whisker, then ear to ear.

"Um- Yea. That...heh heh"

Hinata slowly hid her head in her hands.  
Rejection.  
Here it came .

"Did you mean that as like a friend… kind of thing…" he dropped off hoping she'd fill in the blank again but was met with silence.

It was hard to hear anything he said with her heart beating so loud in her ears.

Naruto opened one eye watching as what must have been her feet slowly spread back out towards him, still hidden beneath the blanket.  
Taking that as a sign she ready to answer, he crawled a little closer in anticipation of clarification, but found none.

She wasn't making this easy.

"Or… did you mean that… like… something…um, something like more…than a friend?"

Her hands and skin became undeniably red in trade of their normal pale complexion, complementing what remained of the various bruises Sakura had mostly finished healing. She was sweltering beneath the blanket now, and not just because of the morning sun, or her own body heat.

"Immmentdatitasaendand….hmmhmingahmmotoredanaend."  
If her eyes squeezed shut anymore she was going to sprain the same muscles she'd damaged in her attempt to use her byakugan, all over again.

"Ehh?"

When the silence lasted a little longer than she expected she nearly peeked from under the blanket to see his expression, but fear that it was more than likely disapproving, or disgusted, kept her frozen in mind and senses were reeling as the temperature continued to spike beneath the blanket.

"Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm, hmm?" Naruto repeated.

His voice sounded so much closer than before.

Realizing he probably couldn't hear her with her face smashed into her palms, she slowly removed them, and was rewarded with a gust of cool and refreshing air entering her "tent".

"UM! I meant it as a friend and something... a lot…_lot more_-" her mouth dropped open as her she finished removing her hands from her face.

Inches…centimeters… from her pale lavender eyes; blue, curious, and shocked ones bore into hers.

"than. a. friend." Her body finished the words for her. Her mind had checked out.

The thumping of her heart and pulse was unbearable.

Naruto's eyes did not move from hers.

Five seconds 10 minutes 20 hours… Time sped and stopped all in one moment.

_'Say something. Say something. Say something.' _She followed his eyes as they finally shifted downward.

Both parties, face to face, tinted green, beneath blanket, became shockingly aware, the only shirt she adorned was the taught bandages Sakura had fashioned around chest. If Naruto's eyes were wide before, their diameter must have tripled.

As his eyes returned to hers, a stream of blood found its way through his left nostril.

He expected it when her hand came smashing towards the side of his face, but what he did not expect was it to land their….softly.

With her body on autopilot, she was just as surprised as he was when her lips formed a slow, sweet, unintentionally seductive smile. "Naruto kun ga…. daisuki."

If his nose was a stream of blood before, it now was a gushing ,raging river. His hand came up to stop it but his eyes remained focused on hers, searching for some hint of a lie or a cruel joke.

"Daisuki...Naruto-Kun." Her fingers began to move in a slight caress leaving a hot trail down his cheek. "Daisuki…"

The blood began to leak from beneath his hand, its pitter-patter ending the silence. His gaze followed the onslaught of blood onto her bandaged chest again, and just that quickly the stream raged into a full-blown river.

In speeds his father would envy, he whipped his head around and back, leaving a splattered pattern across her chest before scooting at chidori speeds from beneath the blanket.

"Ah-UM!" Mortified by her own behavior she quickly cast the blanket aside eager to apologize. There were no questions now about who remembered what, and what was forgotten.

"Na- Naruto-kun!" She watched in horror as he stumbled to his feet, still facing her, and continued to back away. She expected rejection, but not like this.

Whether it was the tension of their situation or the beating of two hearts that kept the duo from noticing the door open, and three figures enter, neither would ever remember, but even muffled by his hand and curdled by his raging nose bleed, Naruto's scream sounded more like Hinata's as he came face to chest with Hiashi Hyuga.

The elder man simply narrowed his stern cro-magnum gaze following Naruto's wild movements like hawk, warranting another scream.

Thank god the boy had cast the shutters open earlier, unknowingly creating six extra escape routes.

Neji and Hanabi both wore shocked expressions as the blonde hopped from the window and in seconds, cleared the field, disappearing into woods.

"W-Wait?!" Hinata stretched her arm out, palm opened as if the gesture would do something more than remind her of all the pain she was in.

Her yelp caused three pairs of pupiless eyes to return to her.

Hiashi instantly threw the extra tatami mats to the ground lunging towards her...

* * *

**Swishswooshswishswooshswishs woosh-**

Naruto didn't look back as legs carried him to some undetermined destination through the trees. He didn't know where he was going, but he needed to get as far from Hinata's dad, and furthermore, Hinata's boobs as possible.

_**Thump**!_

A nervous flame ignited in a place he didn't want to think about right now. He needed his strength! His heart was racing, and it wasn't just because he was dashing through the woods at the speed of lightening.

_'Naruto kun... daisuki.'_

He could remember every shape her mouth formed as the words emerged.

"Oof!" An errant branch teamed up with his mind's distraction to send him flying into rugged brush of the forest. Naruto, stayed there, heaving on all fours, clutching his jumpsuit in an attempt to catch his breath.

_'daisuki'_

Well there was no more questioning it now, but there were still plenty of questions.

He marched onto that compound for clarity and he certainly got it, but he left there more confused than when he'd arrived. The barrage of questions that had tortured him all night after waking up at 3am on that broken mangled park bench, burned for an answer now.

Since when did she like? And and Why? Why didn't she say anything sooner?

The gentle twitter of the birds snapped him from his daze.

Picking himself up, he rub the away the blood that was now crusting beneath his nose.

Looking around he made note of his surroundings and headed towards where he knew he would find the nearest stream.

_'Naruto Kun…_'

Naruto eagerly shook his head trying to eliminate the image of her lips from his mind, but found it replaced once more with the image of her chest, just as massive and just as well concealed all these years from his vision as her feelings had been.

Coming across the cool water, he squatted down before reaching his hands in to splash it against his face.

The trickle of the stream brought a certain bath-house memory to his mind.

_..._

_It was always Lee who incited these kinds of fun, 'family' trips, but it was Choji of all people who had sparked the day's shenanigans._

_"A lot of men go straight for the legs but I am breast man."_

_With all the chatter going on amongst the boys and dog in the bath, it was no surprise that the mention of legs and breast rendered the entire group silent, as all eyes fell on the Akimichi heir. Enveloped in his own story, he had forgotten the chips resting in his hands allowing Shikamaru to sneak a soggy handful from beside him._

_Shino, nearly fell over as Lee hopped down from his shoulders, causing Naruto, perched atop Sai's shoulder to topple ungracefully forward on top of the Aburame, without the force of Lee's hands fighting against him. _

_"Don't get me wrong, legs are great but the breast, that's where all the meat is!"_

_Like moths to the flame, all the boys silently and unknowingly began shifting towards Shikamaru, slumped below the water so only his sleepy eyes were visbale, and Choji, who sat at the square bath's edge with only his legs disappearing beneath the water._

_All but one that is._

_With each boy abandoning his former activity, for a fraction of a minute, the only sound evident was the trickle of water throughout the males bathing room._

_"Hey! Exactly what kind of breasts do you go for Choji?" Kiba barked out splashing away from bathing Akamaru who barked a noisy protest._

_"Hmm." Choji scratched his chin in contemplation, "Well, the round thick ones are great you know," Choji's large hands formed two cup shapes for emphasis, "they really leave you satisfied." _

_Kiba nodded intensely reaching over to high five the boy who eagerly complied, splattering a torrent of water into Shikamaru's eyes._

_Neji stood back steaming in the water, arms crossed, head down, eyes closed. He knew where, or rather who, this conversation was going to drift too, and he was not having it._

_"But the smaller ones are great too," Chouji continued, "they're easier to cram in your mouth!"_

_"HOOOOOOOUU" Lee sprang from beneath the water splashing everyone in the semi huddle they had formed. "Like Sakura-sans!"_

_Lee's eyes, glossy with admiration, weren't prepared for the splash of water Naruto sent back their way._

_"Don't talk about Sakura-chan's boobies!They're Mine! Mine! Mine! MINE!" _

_Fired up and ready to fight the two crashed their four heads together only to be pushed apart by Shino._

_"Must we really have this conversation? It's not the size of a human female's mammary glands, nor the length of the her legs that makes her attractive. Rather, it is the depth of her soul and personality, that makes her legs and mammary glands attractive."_

_Not fully comprehending what mammary glands were, but having a pretty good idea, "Shut up, Shino." Naruto whined, lightly shoving the taller boy towards Lee . "Sakura-Chan's mama-tory grands are perfect!"_

_"HAI" Lee agreed shoving Shino back towards Naruto. "Great things come in the smallest packages!"_

_"False." Each boys' eyes were greeted with Sai's saccharin smile. "Your premise would only be valid if Sakura had 'boob…ies,' which she does not.'"_

_Sai's voice took an awkward tone trying to mimic Naruto's slang, earning a laugh from Kiba, and an easily avoided slap and punch from Naruto and Lee respectively. _

_Even Neji couldn't conseal the smirk that flashed quickly across his face as he fiddled with his hair ensuring it was secure._

_The fight breaking out between Lee, Naruto and Sai was causing quite the commotion, forcing waves and droplets of water to fly every which way in the rectangular in pool._

_"Ah, Shut up!"_

_Silence._

_"Shikamaru wasn't one to lose his temper, but the water from the fighting somehow kept ending up in his eyes, forcing him from his lounging position. "He's talking about chicken."_

_All eyes shifted to Choji who matter of factly shook his head in a negative motion._

_"I stopped talking chicken 15 minutes ago. You fall asleep again?"_

_It was Shikamaru's own hand and not the water that slapped his face now.__" Mendokusai!"_

_"Come on guys! Let's be serious. Let's rate the girls; breast to legs, then legs to breast." Leave it to Kiba, the typical dog with a bone, he was not letting this conversation go. "From what I've seen, Tenten has got a really good shape, but we should probably use Ino as the average since –"_

_"WAIT!" In a flash Lee disappeared beneath the water line and just as quickly emerged before Neji's face._

_"Neji! Share with us!" He slung his clammy arm around the Hyuga's naked shoulder. "What size mountains do you hope to conquer one day. Sakura-san size, Ino-san size , or Hinata-san siz- AHAHH !" The large splash as Lee hit the water sent a massive wave cascading, once more, towards Shikamaru, who quickly hopped out of the pool altogether._

_"Ah come off it Neji!" Kiba waded backwards to resume his bathing of Akamaru. She's every bit our teammate," a head towards Shino "as she is your cousin, and the girl is stacked!"_

_"Hinata's stacked?" Naruto cocked his head in disbelief. _

_"Um where have you been, dude?"_

_"Training!?"_

_"Oh, Yea." He couldn't argue with that. __"Well, come train with us in the summer. Last year she broke Shino's nose when that sweat shirt came off during taijutsu practice."_

_"Was the depth of her soul, that distracting?" Sai threw in a smile, finally earning a laugh form the annoyed and drying off Shikamaru._

_Embrassed, Shino quickly ducked beneath the water neither denying nor confirming Kiba's story._

_"I always thought Hinata was kind of short and, flat."_

_Having taken Neji's beating as an opportunity to practice holding his breath, everyone was startled when Lee sprang from the bath's depth once more ._

_"No way! Gai-sensei says youth is literally exploding from her-"_

**_SPLASH!_**

_A great portion of the bath water spread across the tiles outside of the pool as Neji sprang forward catching Lee's muscular throat in his hands. Unsurprisingly, nobody panicked as he choked the boy down beneath the waves, his demon gaze and shadow focused solely on Naruto._

_"YES, Naruto! She is short and flat-NO... short, stocky, and flat. It is a common trait among the Hyuga clan."_

_Frowning, and paying no mind to Lee flailing beneath the water, the blonde eyed the Hyuga up and down. __"Jeez, Neji. You don't have to be so mean about it. Tsk. Poor Hinata. Someone will love her someday; short, stocky, and all!"_

_"Poor Hinata? Poor you, friend. Someone might love a short stocky girl but no one will love a short, stocky peni-"_

"SAI!" Naruto splashed the water of the stream in annoyance.

Pushing himself up, from the cool waters edge, Naruto stretched calculating his location and the time from the warm sun and his shadow. He'd better make his way to see granny Tsunade…

He thought Neji truly regarded him as friend.  
Had he really been trying to sabotage this whole thing from the start?

Did it matter?

In the end, he really was the idiot who hadn't noticed.

_'No!'_ Another memory began dancing in his head._ 'A person like you… I really like.'_

That's right! The day of his final match during the Chunin exam, all those years ago.

He paused silencing the crunching leaves beneath his feet, placing his hands firmly on his hips. It wasn't a love confession or anything like that but , damn it, well he couldn't deny he was a little hurt over the whole thing… back then anyway.A pile of significant life changes events thrown in, had left that minute annoyance forgotten...

After vowing revenge with her blood dripping from his hand…  
After their heart to heart at the training grounds…  
After letting her know, a person like her he he _really_ liked…

Why… in his proudest moment, couldn't he find her face in the crowd?

_'When I look at you I get an intense feeling in my heart… '_ He stutter stepped as he resumed his journey . His right hand clutched the fabric over his heart. He couldn't ignore an intense feeling there of his own their.'

_'Maybe I just didn't see her….'_

"But I looked really hard!" His voiced sounded odd with no one around in the forest.

For the third time the boy halted his tracks. Looking back towards the direction of the compound, he contemplated heading back. One flash of Hiashi glare quickly sent him jogging off towards the settlement camps occupying Konoha's center. He needed answers, but he'd acquired the most important one already.

'_Daisuki...Naruto Kun'_

"Hn!" A sly grin spread over his face as his jog turned into skip.

The world, after all, is a different place when you know someone loves you.

* * *

In his life, Neji Hyuga had seen many things.

He'd seen a shark do battle with Konoha's green beast.

He'd seen Sai's 3D flip book of Naruto's shrinking penis.

He'd seen Choji drink an entire gallon of milk without vomiting.

He'd even once witnessed the infamous, Orochmaru eat his own head on a mission to the sound village.

Yet for all he'd seen, never did he ever see, Hyuga Hiashi cry, until today.

When her father lunged towards her, Hinata could only stare blankly; shocked as the man wrapped his arms around her.

Hanabi fidgeted standing on one foot then placing the other back on the ground . This was embarrassing.

After what seemed like an eternity, Hinata, with effort and pain, lifted her arms to return the awkward embrace. This feeling, she hadn't known it since five years of age.

Everyone one in the room had something to say, yet all individuals remained silent. Even as the elder wiped his tears away, stood, and retrieved the hair brush Neji had long since cast aside, not one utterance was spoken. Not one of the younger Hyuga moved from their position.

With graceful and assertive movements, Hiashi pushed the stool Neji had situated behind Hinata for support, replacing it with his own body. He mechanically went to work tugging and yanking the knots from Hinata's hair.

Hanabi and Neji shared a sidelong glance unsure of what was happening.

"Neji."

"Uncle?"

"Return these windows to their former positions."

"…Hai…" The slowness of his speech made the teen uneasy. He knew it was coming, Hiashi's legendary rage. He just didn't know when. Neji didn't want to know how Hinata–sama ended up, shirtless, beneath a blanket with Naruto, but as lecherous as Naruto was, he knew neither one of them was them was that fast. Hiashi, he knew, did not know that.

He kept his peripherals on his uncle ready to react if something should something go awry.

"Hanabi." The sharpness of his tone snapped the girl from her daze.

"H-Ha-Hai, tou-san!"

Hanabi stepped back receiving the full force of his gaze. She never stuttered.

His head nodded slightly to the trail of blood staining the tatami mats across the floor, then to the pile he had discarded.

"Change those."

"Hai. Tousan"

If Hinata was a spiteful person she would have rolled her eyes at the speed by which her sister corrected her _mistake.S_ince she was not, she simply lowered her head to accommodate the aggressive work of her father on her tangled mass of hair, silently preparing for the lecture that was about to befall her ears.

"Hinata."

_Here we go._

"Neji informed me of the events that took place here, yesterday."

She said nothing. When Hiashi began a lecture, your best defense was to keep your mouth shut, your head down, and in her case specifically, your nervous little hands out of sight. She pressed her palms firmly together between her outstretched legs.

"Tsunade's student found you…with broken legs."

The tone of his voice was scary, and his earlier hug was completely unpredictable. Frightened of what her father might do, her body went taught and ridged between his outstretched legs.  
She became painfully aware of how firmly his left hand rested atop her head.

"3 cracked around your spine."

The movements of the hair brush became slower, but jerked more aggressively as he picked apart one particular knot. Every click and bang of the shutters as Neji shut them grew obnoxiously loud in her ears. Even the friction of Hanabi's hands smoothing the mats seemed noisy.

Hiashi wasn't physically abusive, but his words had a way of cutting you like a knife. Hinata had witnessed some of the toughest jonin, and even clan members she suspected were Anbu reduced to tears before her father's kunai tongue.

"You could have lost your legs...Hinata."

Head already lowered, Hinata let her gaze drift down in an attempt to hide the tears she knew would soon fall.

"Hinata… you could have lost your life."

She blinked a few times to stall the flood to no avail. The silvery liquid cascaded down collecting on her bandaged chest. It was only through their blur that she noticed it.

When Hiashi had someone in his sights, it was in your best interest to stay out of them. That's why neither Neji nor Hanabi looked up from their respective tasks until they heard the sharp intake of Hinata's gasp.

Neji, still fixing the windows was unsure if her mouth was outstretched in pain, or if her profile revealed the curves of some twisted smile.

From her work on the floor, Hanabi could clearly see her sister was smiling, leaving the youngest Hyuga all the more confused.

"You risked your life for that boy?"

Hinata couldn't help but relax. Her vision blurry, the strange dotted pattern Naruto's blood left on the bandages of her bosom, formed crocked, misshapened heart.

"Yes. I did."  
Something about it gave her the strength to answer with confidence.

Hanabi's eyes went wide fearing the touch of sass in her sisters words, despite Hinata's quiet and meek voice.

"You like that boy?"

"No." Her voice retained her confidence as her eyes traced the warped heart pattern again and again and again. "I love him. "

Hanabi and Neji both froze. Neither pretended not to watch in mortified fascination, sure that proclamation was the grain that would tip Hiashi's interrogation from investigative to irate.

"Tch." Despite her new found confidence, even Hinata felt a twinge of fear as the brush stopped moving through her hair. "That boy… He's going be the next Hokage .."  
Hiashi shifted his gaze towards the ceiling as if in some kind of trance. "He is after all Konoha's hero."

Hinata wanted to turn around to look at her father, but his hand resting gently a top her head, locked the child in a tight vice of fear. Her eyes searched Neji's then Hanabi's for some hint or an answer.

Shrugged his shoulders, and a head shaking side to side were her answers.

"He is Konoha's hero...and you...are Konoha's hero's…...hero. "

Hiashi's voice trailed off like he was doing some sort of advanced calculation in his head.  
When his eyes looked past Hinata and settled on Hanabi the girl instinctively scurried back. Why was he staring at her? Where was the rage. Where was the lecture on the impropriety for his 16 year old daughter… shirtless! Under a blanket! Un-supervised. With the nine tails in her bedroom?

"You…" Hanabi's eyes relaxed as his gaze shifted back to Hinata. "You get that boy to dinner, Hinata."

"What?" Neji quickly covered his mouth and turned back towards the last window, realizing he'd spoken out loud and not in his head as intended.

Hanabi propped her self up on her knees forgetting her task of changing out the blood stained mats.  
She watch in complete awe, as her father resumed gooming her sister.

Hinata tilted her head back just enough to get a glimpse of Hiashi's face. Had he been murdered and replaced by some strange nin in Suna , like the Kazekage once was by Orochimaru.

Meeting his white orbs, he stared back into her lavender ones, stern and clear. "Get him here."

_'To kill him?'_ Hinata's eyes searched her father's for some kind of murderous intent but found none.  
For the second time that day, she found herself uncomfortably close to a man she'd yearned to be close to for years, albeit for an entirely different reasons.

She quickly turned back to face forward, a woozy feeling filling her head. Naruto's blood stain, once more, caught her eye triggering memories of how quickly he had dashed from her quarters less than 30 minutes ago.

"Well, I can't." Hinata had resolved herself to keep her tears in check before her father a long time ago. The fact that he couldn't see them was a blessing, but no doubt, everyone in the room could hear them in her voice. "How can I?… "Hinata's question was certainly addressed to her father but posed to higher power or entity that wasn't in the room.  
Fate ?  
Destiny?  
"How can I when he likes… when he loves someone else."

Neji felt his heart breaking as he rested his head against the final wooden shutter. His admiration for Naruto was legendary, but this is why he wished she had never laid eyes on the boy.

The brush once more was entangled in untangling her long silky knots

Entranced by the softness of her father, the tears of her sister, and drama of the older ninja's of Konoha, Hanabi remained perched on her knees, intensely observing the situation. This was the happy kind of family scene she saw in a movie once at Moegi's house. The kind she always wished she'd come home to.

Hiashi smug laugh ripped through her musings though and brought her back to reality. Here came the punch line…

"Simple."

It was Hiashi's turn to become the focus of six pupiless eyes, but his bore only into Hinata's, as he gently leaned her head back to ensure he held her full attention.

"Love is a battle. Who is Konoha's Strongest?"

"Uh?!" Hinata moved to return her head forward, when the calloused hands of her father quickly leaned it back, once more.

Who is Konoha's strongest?

"Hyuga!" Hanabi beamed in caught up in her Father's raising figthing spirit.

"Hyuga!" He repeated pointing to Hanabi with the hair brush. Neji glanced back and forth between the Hiashi and Hanabi. They were usually more stoic than even he. What the hell was this?

Hinata found his gaze silently cosigning his thoughts when her head was yanked backed once more.

"Do what you have to, to earn your place in his heart. You committed to death for him? Then I refuse to accept failure."

"Tousan!" Hinata flinched as arm wrapped around her neck,that his left hand could meet the smack of the brush in his right. Locked in a semi choke hold, she stared up at him hoping to be released but fell prey to his fiery stare.

"Get beside him. Take his hand. Walk with him- Hell, drag him here, I don't care. " The brush danced wildly in Hiashi's hand as he continued his tirade. Hinata used all the strength she had to press herself into her Father's chest to avoid it. "You are Hyuga. We win on the battle field; we win at love. It is not pride! It's a fact. Hyuga is Konoha's strongest!"

Haniabi clapped in agreement.

Neji's eyes twitched as the thought of two shiny bowl cuts popped in his mind.

"Tou-san." Hinata's voice was light, and distant with a mosaic of confusing emotions.

"Hm." As if his sermon had never happened, his stoic nature returned and the brush once more found her hair.

"I'm sleepy."

He said nothing as he returned the brush to the floor beside her, and gently pulled her back to rest against his chest. A reach and snap of his long arms caused the discarded and bloodied comforter to spread wide in the air before falling with the grace and precision over Hinata, the flame pattern in perfect alignment with her limp body and his outstretched legs.

She too exhausted to acknowledge the nestle of his chin in her scalp, and was already sleeping when he replaced it with a kiss.

"Then sleep my child. The battle has only begun."

* * *

_**This was so much to edit. I apologize as I'm sure I missed some major mistakes!**_

Thank you to all who favored , followed , and certainly those of you who reviewed this story3! I take your thoughts into consideration, and every time I re read this chapter I kept adding this or that or rewriting this and that. That makes you all co-authors too! ^_^ ^_^!

_**I'll go back and read it through a forth time soon enough to give it that one final clean up! **_  
_**Happy reviewing, and enjoy the new Naruto manga chapter, which should be out now!  
**_

_**Lots of Love!  
~Serena-Chan**_


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